How Many TV Show Ideas Were Hatched There? Iconic New York Deli in Times Square — Big With Tourists as Well — Closes Doors After 75 Years

An iconic midtown New York deli has closed its doors. Says The Huffington Post: "The restaurant, which had been open since 1937, was known for its massive sandwiches and Jewish American deli fare."

The restaurant, the Stage Deli, about a block away from the Sheraton hotel towers on 53rd and 7th, shut its doors one final time last Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, The Post said.

"’It’s a sad day for New York,’ Paul Zolenge, who has owned the deli with Steve Auerbach for 26 years, told The New York Times, adding, ‘We’ve been struggling to make it through these hard times.’”

The Times story continues, "Mr. Zolenge cited the cost of doing business in New York. The landlord erected scaffolding in front of the restaurant a year ago, he said, and even though it came down in September, ‘We lost a whole year.’ The rent had gone up several times in recent years, Mr. Zolenge said, and with the lease ending in a few months, he and Mr. Auerbach were expecting another increase. ‘We just couldn’t afford to keep it going anymore,’ he said."

The Times notes, "Over the decades, the competition between the Stage Deli and the nearby Carnegie Deli, a similarly famous spot that opened the same year as the Stage, has been fierce.

"’This has been very hard for everyone to put an end to an institution,’ [Mr. Zolenge] said, noting that the same had happened recently to several other Midtown old-timers. ‘Ben Benson’s closed, and Gallagher’s is closing, too.’"